“We are short staffed, and this has been a local issue forever,” said Meade, alluding to when the critical care hospital and ER with advanced specialty care services was under Provena and Amita St. Joseph Medical Center.
“We are down 325 nurses since 2018,” Meade added. Currently, Ascension has about 530 nurses on staff, but the ideal number to provide adequate quality medical care to patients is to have about 800 nurses,” she said.
Sarah Hurd, organizer of the Illinois Nurses Association, the parent group of St. Joseph Nurses Association, said many nurses do not choose Ascension as a place to work because they can make more money at nearby AdventHealth Bolingbrook and Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox. She said this ultimately hurts the Joliet community.
“Our goal is to save St. Joseph,” said Hurd. “Our hospital is in existential crisis because of mismanagement.”
https://thetimesweekly.com/ascension-st-joes-medical-center-nurses-seek-fair-contract/